< Previous© stock.adobe.com/Eric Limon Making your dreams a reality Lincolnshire’s top wedding venues and specialists are here to help turn your big ideas into a reality. Lincolnshire Today Wedding Guide VENUES 10www.lincolnshiretoday.net VENUES 11 P lanning your wedding can be almost as enjoyable as the big day itself. While weddings of the past often followed the same formula, today there’s a wide range of venues and creative ways to personalize your celebration. From unique themes to unforgettable settings, the possibilities are endless when you explore the stunning venues across Lincolnshire. Anyone who has attended a fair number of weddings knows that they can sometimes start to feel a little familiar. A few years down the line, you might find yourself looking through photos and struggling to remember what made the day special. Of course, the focus of the day should be on the couple, but providing your guests with something memorable will ensure they hold on to those memories for years to come. Plus, a little extra effort can help keep them engaged and avoid early departures. 12 ÁLincolnshire Today Wedding Guide VENUES 12 If you love tradition, it’s there for you— many parts of the ceremony are moving and meaningful, and you might not want to change them. This can be especially true if you have older guests attending who may cherish those classic elements. However, there’s also plenty of room to step away from tradition. Many couples today are getting married later in life, after living together, so the wedding may feel more like a grand celebration than a strictly formal event. If the venue you’ve fallen in love with isn’t licensed for weddings, you could even opt for a quick, private ceremony at a register office before the real celebration begins. Most likely, your wedding will fall somewhere in between—a blend of formal traditions and informal touches. Lincolnshire’s versatile venues can offer the perfect backdrop, and you don’t have to design your wedding’s theme around the venue’s existing décor. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter weddings—today’s couples are diverse, and so are their wedding styles. Many venues have a variety of rooms to suit different wedding sizes and styles, and for complete flexibility, a marquee might be the perfect solution. Even the grandest hotels offer marquee options, providing a blank canvas for you to personalize and make your own. A marquee also offers the chance to change up the scenery, ensuring your guests enjoy a refreshing shift in atmosphere throughout the day. If you’re looking for variety, you could always plan your event across multiple venues, but there’s always the risk of guests getting lost along the way— © stock.adobe.com/Igor 14 ÁESCAPE TO A CHERISHED COUNTRY ESTATE IN THE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE, EXCLSIVELY YOURS FOR YOUR SPECIAL DAY. Norwood Park offers an array of ceremony and reception spaces carefully tailored to suit you from intimate ceremonies of 40 guests to large ceremonies. NOR W OOD PAR K SCAN TO BOO K A PRIVATE VIE W ING 3 CEREMONY SPACES · FROM 40 TO 160 GUESTS · UP TO 250 EVENIING GUESTS · SLEEPS 47 | www.norwoodpark.co.uk | 01636302099 | events@norwoodpark.co.uk Find out more... Exclusively YOURS @laurajaynephotographer @laurajaynephotographer @essieloutriffittphotography© stock.adobe.com/Eric Limon Lincolnshire Today Wedding Guide VENUES 14 something we’ve all seen happen! Thankfully, with modern weddings offering more flexibility, you can let your imagination run wild. If you have children attending, you may want them to be an integral part of the day. Or, if the traditional wedding breakfast feels a bit stiff, consider a more casual meal to get the party started earlier. You could even ditch the formalities altogether and host one giant, fun-filled celebration with anything goes. However, one thing to keep in mind is the diverse range of guests that will be attending—your wedding will likely have guests ranging from babies to grandparents. Each guest will have their own expectations, and while it’s ultimately your day, you’ll want to make sure everyone has a great time. That doesn’t mean you need to play it safe or stick to convention, but if you’re planning something out of the ordinary, it’s important to set expectations clearly when sending out invitations. If your guests expect a formal meal and you’re serving only canapés, they might end up hungry and restless. Similarly, if you’ve planned an offsite excursion, make sure your older guests know in advance so they can decide whether they want to join in. While some of your older guests may look forward to traditional elements, it’s also worth considering what they enjoy most. Even familiar traditions have a special place, so striking the right balance is key. None of this should limit your creativity, though—so long as your guests know what to expect, you have the opportunity to truly make the day your own. Lincolnshire’s venues and wedding specialists are here to help you bring your dream celebration to life.www.lincolnshiretoday.net 15 More than just a hotel. Located in the leafy victorian surroundings of Peoples Park in Grimsby, but only a short stroll from the centre of our busy town and historic docks, Millfields is perfectly placed for visitors to North East Lincolnshire. With 27 well appointed Bedrooms, a Restaurant with A la Carte menu and a Bar offering a range of Guest Ales, Wireless Internet Access and Free Onsite Car Parking, Millfields is the perfect place to stay all year round. Your Wedding Day should be one of the most important days of your life. So whether you are planning for your Special Day to be an intimate family affair or a large celebration for all your friends, we have the facilities to accommodate up to 60 guests seated for a daytime function and up to 125 for your disco/buffet in the evening. Our beautiful Grade II listed Victorian town house located between Grimsby Town and the picturesque Lincolnshire Wolds provides an intimate and characterful venue that can be exclusively yours. Millfields Hotel, 53 Bargate, Grimsby, N. E. Lincs. DN34 5AD T: 01472 356068 E: info@millfieldshotel.co.uk W: www.millfieldshotel.co.uk Book our wedding venue We're here to make your occasion specialLincolnshire Today Wedding Guide FINISHING TOUCHES 16 S ome of the best ideas often come out of nowhere - whether it’s a sudden realization in the middle of the night, an inspiring thought while strolling down the high street, or a brilliant idea for your wedding while driving down the A180. These unexpected flourishes can infuse your celebration with a bit of sparkle, leaving you with photos you’ll want to look through for years and memories you’ll cherish forever. While these final touches may not make the wedding, they certainly enhance it, transforming an ordinary event into something truly extraordinary. Simple additions like banners and bunting - especially if they’re personalized or match the colour scheme - can make a huge difference. Confetti is another delightful touch that not only dazzles on film but will also have guests grinning from ear to ear. If children are present, they might find playing in the confetti to be the highlight of the evening. For an extra twist, consider adding a bubble machine - just be sure it’s not near the buffet table. Seating arrangements are another area where a little thought can go a long way. While a free-for-all may seem tempting, it’s often a good idea to maintain some The final flourishes After months of meticulous planning, there will always be a few final details to organize and confirm. This is just as true for the paperwork as it is for the wedding itself, and these last-minute touches can provide that perfect final bit of glamour. © stock.adobe.com/Iftikhar alamwww.lincolnshiretoday.net 17 structure, especially since the church is usually divided into the bride and groom’s family. Why not continue that tradition at the reception? Name cards can serve as both a seating guide and a fun keepsake for guests, alongside any wedding favours. Think about pairing people thoughtfully - it’s a great chance to introduce friends and help the newly merged families bond. In addition to having professional photographers capture the event from every angle, a photo booth is a fantastic way to engage your guests in a more relaxed setting. Some photographers may offer a variety of backdrops and props, or you could consider using a green screen to let the couple choose any setting that speaks to their style - whether it’s a futuristic backdrop for sci-fi fans or something more whimsical. Even with smartphones and apps at our fingertips, disposable cameras remain a wedding © stock.adobe.com/UseeIvan New Indoor/ Outdoor Mobile Bar from 2025! Whatever your requirements we can work with you to make your event perfect. Call 07488 262597 or visit www.barandaway.co.uk favourite - simple, fun, and perfect for passing around. For a quirky touch, Polaroid cameras offer instant prints, providing guests with keepsakes or giving you plenty of material for a wedding scrapbook. The creativity doesn’t stop once the date is set. Ideas will keep flowing right up to the big day, and many of these last- minute additions can be easily executed with the right expertise - luckily, in your county, that expertise is readily available. We are a family run business based in Revesby, Lincolnshire, Bar and Away Ltd is an on-the-go beverage business for weddings, birthdays, and private events. Whether you desire a devoted team by your side or chilled refreshments, we offer you the best of both worlds. Our bartenders strive to make every event as spectacular as possible with our refined horse box bar. We're excited to offer our Brand New Indoor Wooden bar for hire. This bar is Perfect for venues without a bar, whether it's a marquee or a village hall. This bar will be fully stocked, just like our horsebox! The Hire cost covers fully licenced and uniformed staff and we apply and pay for the event licence too. This Bar has John Smiths, Inchs Cider and Birra Moretti on Draught l We have many different packages available to suit your event l We offer cocktail classes for Hen dos, Garden Parties etc l We can also provide Bar staff or Mixologists for your own Bar where you provide the alcohol, or we do. n Horsebox bar n Indoor wooden bar n Marquee hire (with or without our Bars) n Event staff provided n Mobile Cocktail parties n Event management/planning services Lincolnshire Today Wedding Guide CAKES 18 I n today’s more flexible world it makes sense that wedding cakes have changed. While the majority of weddings still make use of a traditional baked cake, the designs of them have shifted. Some still enjoy the traditional tiered structure, but there are weddings who embrace a more shabby-chic style and intentionally have cakes that look broken or misshapen, or which fit different themes entirely. Some wedding cakes are made entirely of cheese wheels, some of fruit, and – with some couples unable to eat cake for various reasons – of entirely different materials. That’s not to say experts aren’t involved in all of this, however. The more unique a wedding cake is, the more an expert is needed – as it’s difficult to work to an unusual brief while also maintaining the kind of quality expected of a wedding cake. And guests will be expecting quality. Given that the cutting of the cake remains a pivotal wedding photo moment, most couples will want it to look special as well. One aspect that a lot of people forget is the cake table itself – as a cake is one of the most photographed elements within your reception and with all the time and money spent on it, it deserves to be showcased to the max. A beautiful cake on a plain table won’t have the impact it could. Just as you would style your top and guest tables, you can add some simple styling to your cake table to make it look even more impressive, without adding too much to your budget. Here are the top 5 tips to style your cake table from a local wedding cake expert: * Add a table runner in a colour to match your decor and stationery with your cake flavours to tempt your guests. * Hire or buy a cake stand from your A wedding cake is a tradition that many people have fun with, switching out styles and ingredients, but some things remain common. Photo courtesy of The Cake Queen, Lincoln Making a statement www.lincolnshiretoday.net CAKES 19 cake maker or stylist to elevate your cake even more. Just make sure it is good quality and strong enough to hold the weight of your cake - it’s heavier than you think! * Include a floral display, this could be on the table itself or a meadow box in front of the table for example. You can reuse displays from your ceremony or have vases styled to place your bouquets in. * Use a backdrop behind your cake table, such as an arch or signage. * Rather than a standard table, think about displaying your cake on its own pillar, pedestal or even a barrel depending on the look you are going for. By adding even just one or two of these extra styled elements, you will ensure your cake becomes a real showpiece that you’ll be excited to stand beside for your cake cutting and will entice guests to enjoy it all the more when it is served. Photo courtesy of The Cake Queen, Lincoln Photo courtesy of The Cake Queen, LincolnNext >